Sigma Offshore Spotlights Turret Mooring Systems at Key FPSO Event

A leading oil and gas industry expert with Sigma Offshore, the Aberdeen-based turret mooring provider, project management company and engineering consultancy, will give a talk at a prestigious event in London.

David Galbraith, Chief Technology Officer at Sigma Offshore, will make his presentation at the Global Floating Production Systems event at the Le Meridien Hotel in London on December 2-3, 2009. The talk will be called Turret Mooring Systems -- Evolution, Importance and Future. It will discuss the evolution of the offshore industry leading into FPSOs and then discuss some of the issues and difficulties with turret mooring system and preconceptions about FPSOs in parts of the industry. The conference is accompanied by a small exhibition and the Sigma Offshore stand will be showcasing a model of its innovative and cost effective external turret and mooring system known as SMS.

Galbraith said, "The FPSO market will certainly be cost conscious over the next few years and SMS has a role to play due to the benefits of the system. The bow mounted turret allows unlimited weathervaning and can be specified to suit environmental conditions throughout the world. Benefits also include the ability to operate in harsh environments, low maintenance costs, efficient connect/reconnect systems and minimal invasion into the ship's hull.

"SMS is a flexible and cost-effective system that has a number of benefits compared to other similar systems on the market. The event will again be an opportunity to highlight SMS to an influential audience."

Galbraith will give his talk at 12.10pm on the second day of the event. Sigma Offshore has developed Smart Mooring System (SMS) -- a cost-efficient and timesaving innovation for oil and gas vessels called FPSOs (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) and similar vessels in which both mooring and fluid loading and unloading is required in medium to deep water.

The Aberdeen-based company is looking to win business in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, South America, West Africa, North Africa and South-East Asia -- including Australian waters -- and predicts more than 140 jobs could be created by the end of next year should the business hit its targets.

Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, found out about the global ambitions of Sigma when he visited the stand at September's Offshore Europe at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.

The bow mounted turret of SMS allows unlimited weathervaning. SMS can be installed on a vessel conversion without the need to dry-dock the ship and without interfering with any work being undertaken on the process equipment.

The company believes the innovative system, which uses existing technology in a more efficient way for many applications, could save clients up to 30%.

Although developed for FPSOs, the SMS is suitable for a variety of marine applications including floating storage, floating LNG (liquefied natural gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas).

The cost for each bespoke SMS ranges from $10m to $25m depending on the complexity and location of the project.

Galbraith has more than 30 years' experience in the offshore oil and gas industry and has been involved in the criteria for ISO standards. He is also a member of the ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers), the Energy Institute and the Aberdeen Branch of the Offshore Engineering Society.

Sigma Offshore recently expanded into the United States and Norway with the appointment of Houston-based Allan Millmaker as Executive Vice President, Business Development, while Vice-President, Business Development, Eirik Refstie heads up Sigma’s newly opened office in Oslo.